Key words: Orient, mysticism, Sufism, philosophy, stories, teachings. History, religion, mythology, traditions are understood and rendered in a unique way by this huge personality in Oriental philosophy. The stories with Mulla Nasrudin are parables, samples of traditional wisdom of the Muslim world, which can be found also in Shah’s Caravan of Dreams, published in 1968, a wonderful anthology of sayings, poems, stories and tales. Idries Shah’s most important book is The Sufis, presenting Sufism as ”the secret tradition”, an inner and universal dimension and philosophy of life which combines the wise teachings of Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Zoroastrians. Tales of the Dervishes (1967), a collection of stories, legends and parables gathered from Sufi texts and oral sources used the teaching story, which is intended to have a moralistic value. One year later, he wrote The Secret Lore of Magic and Destination Mecca, a travel book depicting captivating journeys and caravanserais in the desert. In his youth, Idries Shah was interested in occultism, his first book being Oriental Magic, published in 1956. Even Doris Lessing, the writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007, wrote that ”Shah was a bridge between cultures (.) at home in the east and the west, (.) the voice of moderate and liberal Islam.” Idries Shah, born in British India in 1924, the son of an Indian writer, is definitely one of the most important and fascinating personalities of Neo-Sufism. “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați.
Associate Professor Alina Beatrice Cheșcă, PhD. IDRIES SHAH AND THE MYSTICISM OF THE ORIENT.
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